So what gives with Wall Street? Why is it missing on Apple? My guess is that Wall Street doesn’t “get” innovation. It still thinks Apple is all about aesthetic design—pretty stuff that people like to play with. Wall Street doesn’t understand that the iPod is a music ecosystem that allows people to manage their music libraries, not just a pretty thing. Analysts don’t get that Macs are now creative tools for user producers to make their own videos and music and share them with friends. It’s not about computers anymore.

So Wall Street blows it again and again with Apple. Sure, they’ll get it right from time to time but until analysts analyze what true innovation is all about, that it goes way beyond looks, they won’t “get Apple.”

But that won’t both Steve Jobs. He gets to constantly surprise investors on the upside with profit numbers, sending Apple’s stock higher.

About

Want to stop talking about innovation and learn how to make it work for you? Bruce Nussbaum takes you deep into the latest thinking about innovation and design with daily scoops, provocative perspectives and case studies. Nussbaum is at the center of a global conversation on the growing discipline of innovation and the deepening field of design thinking. Read him to discover what social networking works—and what doesn’t. Discover where service innovation is going and how experience design is shaping up. Learn which schools are graduating the most creative talent and which consulting firms are the hottest. And get his take on what the smartest companies are doing in the U.S., Asia and Europe, far ahead of the pack.